Pearson Plc is exploring a sale of the Financial Times after receiving
interest from potential buyers, according to people familiar with the
matter.

London-based Pearson is sounding out possible bidders for the
salmon-colored newspaper, said the people, who asked not to be identified
because the deliberations are confidential. A sale may value the business
at as much as 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion), two of the people said.

While there is no formal process under way, the Financial Times may draw
interest from media companies such as Axel Springer SE as well as investors
in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the people said.

Pearson shares rose more than 5 percent intraday before closing 1.6 percent
lower. The company has a market value of about 10.3 billion pounds.

*A sale may value the business at as much as 1 billion pounds ($1.6
billion)*

Discussions over a disposal, which have been on and off for years, have
heated up as Chief Executive Officer John Fallon focuses on tackling a
slowdown in the education unit weighed on by declining U.S. college
enrollments and falling textbook sales. No final decision has been made and
Pearson may decide to keep the newspaper, the people said.

Representatives for Pearson and Axel Springer declined to comment.

‘Trophy Asset’

Pearson doesn’t break out financial details for the FT, which is part of
the professional education unit that reported 1.15 billion pounds in 2014
revenue. The publisher is scheduled to report interim results on July 24.

“It’s a classic trophy asset, it has cachet,” Alex DeGroote, an analyst at
Peel Hunt, said in a phone interview. While DeGroote said he does see
Pearson as a seller of the FT, he added that the mooted price would be “an
extraordinary valuation.”

“If Pearson can get 1 billion pounds for the FT I will eat my hat,” he said.

First published in 1888 as a four-page newspaper, the FT’s circulation
reached 720,000 last year, with digital subscriptions accounting for 70
percent of the total. In a move to make more money from online readers, the
newspaper in February tweaked its paywall system, moving away from a
metered model that allows readers to view a few free articles every month
before requiring them to pay.

Last November, Chief Financial Officer Robin Freestone said a sale of the
FT wasn’t top priority for Pearson.

“Do we have to own them? No. But actually it’s one of those brands which,
you know, you don’t sell lightly,” Freestone, who will step down next
month, told an investor conference on Nov. 19.

German newspaper publisher Axel Springer is in talks to combine with German
broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media to strengthen their push into digital
media, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month. A deal
would unite Springer’s Bild-Zeitung tabloid and Die Welt newspaper with the
ProSieben and Sat.1 commercial TV channels.